How many ski areas in the World?
Guess how many ski areas there are in the world? Currently, our beautiful, regionally snowy, planet has over 6,000 ski areas around the globe! An exact number from Google is 6,135 ski resorts worldwide currently in operation. That’s 60,000 kilometers (38,000 miles) of slopes to ski, served by 24,275 ski lifts spanning our earth.
The bigger question is how many places have you skied? And how many will you ski in your lifetime?
Fun skiing facts and ski stats from the World Skiing Index:
529 in the U.S. as follows:
76 in New England… Vermont (25), New Hampshire (28), and Maine (19)
32 in Colorado … see our Favorite Colorado ski resorts
15 in Utah…
19 in Idaho… we love Sun Valley, Schweitzer & Tamarack
440 in Austria… see our Top Austrian Ski Resorts
359 in Switzerland… Best Swiss Alps Ski Areas
249 in France… Top French Ski Resorts
33 in Spain… ski the biggest – Baquiera Beret
565 in Japow…
296 in Canada, eh?! … Why we love skiing Canada
45 in South America – Chile and Argentina – our favorite? Ski Portillo in Chile
15 ski areas in Australia
25 in New Zealand
528 in Scandinavia: Sweden (255), Finland (75) and Norway (125), Iceland (13) Greenland (13) Denmark (12)
Greg & Heather, editors of FamilySkiTrips.com and TheLuxuryVacationgGuide.com have skied over 350 so far, in the US, Canada, Europe’s Alps of Austria, Switzerland, France, Italy and Spain. And we’ve skied South America’s Chile at Ski Portillo in the Andes. But we have so many more to explore!
Just this past winter, we skied 39 ski areas in Austria, with the Tyrol Snow Card. The previous winter, on the Swiss Alps Magic Pass we skied 15.
Our ski favorites, the best ski resorts in Colorado, Utah, Montana, California, Idaho and Wyoming, Oregon and Washington ? Big Sky Montana, Vail Colorado, Alta Snowbird Utah, Mammoth California, all come to mind as mind-blowing big-mountain skiing. In Canada, we love Kicking Horse and Banff Sunshine, as well as Big White, and of course cat and heli-skiing in the Canadian Rockies. In the East, we love Stowe, Sugarbush, Sunday River, and Wildcat.
In the Alps – we love Zermatt Switzerland, Val D’Isere, Verbier, The Arlberg of St Anton, Lech and Stuben, and France’s Les 3 Vallees. We also love discovering small ski areas in the Alps that few have heard of like Val Cenis and Serre Chevalier France, Nax Mont Noble and St Luc Chandolin in Switzerland, with just a few lifts but big vertical and lots of untouched ski terrain, just passionate local skiers and free-riders.
See and Rifflsee/Pitztal Glacier in Austria are near big popular ski areas Ischgl and Solden, but they offer a more relaxed and amazing ski experience. We skied Spain and loved the food and lifestyle at Baqueira Beret, same can be said for the Italian Dolomites and the delicious on-mountain cuisine served in authentic refugios. We have so much more skiing “work” to do! Our mission is to keep discovering new ski trip destinations around the world, places with dramatic mountain scenery, big vertical, high elevation for good snow, and fun apres ski villages with vibrant interesting local culture and cuisine.
We love our “ski safaris” where we combine several nearby ski areas in one regional ski trip, a few nights at each to do each ski resort justice and ski all the trails and terrain!
Stay tuned, keep your skis sharp, your mind curious, and your fitness level ready for the next big ski challenge!
